Srinagar, Aug. 4 -- By Mohammad Amin Mir

Let me tell you about something small that has been bothering me for years now.

Growing up in Kashmir, I loved nightingales. I would sit for hours watching them hop around, dart between branches, sing. That love stuck with me into adulthood.

So I started a small routine. Every morning I put out a shallow bowl of rice grains near my home. Within minutes the birds would show up in little groups. They would peck at the grains, fly up to a branch, come back down, sing a bit, then move on. It felt peaceful in a way nothing else quite matches.

I kept this going for almost thirty years. My whole family looked forward to it. Then, at some point, the bowl just stayed full.

I figured the birds had wande...